Palo Alto: The Retail And Transportation Industry In Indonesia Is The Target Of The Ransomware Group

Illustration of ransomware attack (photo: dock. unsplash)

JAKARTA Unit 42 of the Palo Alto Networks, a cloud security provider, shared a cybersecurity report titled Ransomware Retrospective. This report highlights sectors that are the main targets of ransomware. The team observed 3,998 posts on leaky sites or sites from various ransomware groups. Based on the results of Unit 42 observations, multi-extortion ransomware has increased by 49 percent from 2022 2023. Steven Scheurmann, Regional Vice President of ASEAN Alto Networks, revealed that the sector targets of this ransomware attack are quite diverse. However, the top three sectors in ASEAN are manufacturing, retail industry, and construction. These findings are slightly different from the situation in Indonesia. Steven explained that the sector most affected by the ransomware group attacks is the retail industry, transportation and logistics, as well as utilities and energy. These attacks occur day by day and non-stop. If previously the ransomware group attacks were still very simple, "now the attacks are super sophisticated. They are already using AI, Learning Machine, Large Language Model (LLM)." According to Steven, this improvement needs to be considered because the attacks are increasingly variable. This ransomware group can attack through applications, infrastructure, cloud, and others. The more sophisticated technology used, the impact will be even greater. The consequences caused if not prioritizing security in the cyberspace can be fatal and detrimental to business. Therefore, business owners, whatever industry, must prioritize network security," said Steven.

Meanwhile, Indonesian Country Manager Palo Alto Adi Rusli revealed that LockBit 3.0 is the most active ransomware group in ASEAN, followed by BlackCat (ALPHV), CL0P, PLAY, Akira, and many more. This finding is also different from that in Indonesia. The most attacking ransomware group or individual is BlackCat (ALPHV), followed by LockBit 3.0 in second place and BianLian in third place. Regardless of what ransomware group attacks, Adi reminded all companies from various sectors to strengthen their infrastructure protection, ranging from implementing defense strategies to using the best security programs. It is important to note that there are no industries that are immune and escape attacks. Criminals will not be picky, they are targeting the easiest targets and able to generate the biggest profits," said Adi.